Clearly they're taking the piss out of the analysts and must be in good financial shape.

Like how Bill Gates amd Steve Balmer used to tell Wall St how bad things are.

Then doesn't it make you wonder why even bother laying them off, if it's apparently so neglible?

The positions presumably got closed/not refilled. Zillow itself claims it’s part of normal audit process. Happens all the time and doesn’t make news.

They might not have.

“noting the layoffs were not necessarily cuts in total head count.”

The devil is in the details and I know I’m way too lazy to go through all that paperwork and find out. Looks like everyone else is too. :)